Rewritten: Remember
by Thane'sSiha
Summary: Rewritten: Jane Shepard's planet is attacked by slavers. Fate helps her meet Garrus on a turian war ship, but what happens when that fate pulls them apart, then pushes them back together years later?


The sun was setting again as it had done everyday, leaving the sky pretty shades of pinks and oranges. It would rise again the next day and she would be up again to watch it, watching the colors reignite like flames. Her omnitool was out and ready, recording the sunset like she tried to do every single night, trying to get that perfect angle so that she could gaze upon it again from the comfort of her home instead of being bitten by all the pesky bugs that were scared away by the light and only came out during the beautiful sunset. She never seemed to get that perfect angle though.

The grass tickled her toes and a small gust of wind blew her hair away from her face. The air smelled like the very nature that was around her. Of the trees, grass, dirt and everything else. That's what the air smelled of and she took in that fragrance like her life depended on it.

Her mother called out to her, she heard it, but she didn't move. Dinner would be cold again tonight, yes, but she just had to watch the sky from her favorite place. They wouldn't forcibly come get her and drag her back into the house to eat, they knew she would come in on her own accord eventually. Her parents rather enjoyed her hobby of going out and just gazing at the sky.

They were the type of people who believed technology would be the end of all organic races and felt that spending all their time on electronics would only kill them sooner, they often emphasised this by mentioning what happened to the quarians, so when they saw that young Jane had taken to running out into the grassy meadows and gazing at the sky, they didn't resent it. They embraced it and even though it went against their beliefs, they still bought Jane an omni tool to take pictures of the sky.

The sun had finally gotten lost behind the mountains and would not be back again until early morning, meaning that Jane would finally be able to go back into her home and eat her cold supper.

Walking alone in the dark never scared her. She made sure that she never went too far that she wasn't able to see her house anymore and everyone in the colony knew everyone, it was a small colony and very close knit. Crime on Mindoir was a rarity, but that wasn't to say it didn't happen. It did and the person was dealt with, but it was never anything too serious. So she never worried and her parents never worried and she would come home late.

The grass was tickling her toes as she walked and she was swatting bugs away from her arms. The lights in her home were still on, meaning that her parents were still wide awake. She couldn't wait to tell them of the colors she'd seen tonight, even though they'd heard her ramble on about it a million times. They never ceased to listen and even helped her wake up in the morning to watch the sun rise.

The wind picked up a bit more, something that wasn't really abnormal seeing as it was right in the middle of spring, but something was off about this wind. She noticed at first that it didn't smell right. It smelled like oil and metal, not like nature that she was used to. The tall grass that was up to her knees had started to blow against her legs and a loud sound entered the atmosphere, it was easily recognizable. The sound of a ship engine, she knew it well.

She as well as the other colonists knew better though. Mindoir was an agricultural colony, so ships would often stop by to pick up whatever crops had been grown to sell, but it was far too late at night for a ship to show up. Ships usually came in very early in the morning, around the time that she was coming back inside after gazing at the sky, watching the sun rise. They never came any later than that and they most definitely never came on a weekend, only Mondays and Thursdays.

The ship landed and she wasn't the only one who was intrigued about where it was coming from. Her neighbors and fellow colonists all came outside to see what exactly was landing at the docking bay. They were all dressed for bed, some even looking as if they'd just woken up. It was then that she realized that she did not recognize this ship.

The same ship didn't come every time, but they usually looked similar. Usually they were repurposed alliance vessels or old ships brought back to life by handy people. This ship just looked off to her. The architecture was wrong. It didn't look human made. It didn't look good at all to be honest.

It was big, far too big to be carrying just fruits and vegetables and it was filthy. It looked like it had never been washed before, dried mud and other unknown substances caked the sides of the ship. The armorer plating on this ship was a dirty brown and the smell of oil was thicker on it the closer it got to landing, oil and rust.

The engine sputtered to a stop and it was quiet, too quiet. The wind didn't whistle and no one spoke. She supposed that if she were to drop a pebble, all eyes would be on her in a flash. But she didn't do anything, because for some reason, she was scared.

She heard this thumping, it was rythmithic and tribal and she could hear it even if she covered her ears. It was her heart. Her heart was beating like a drum and she couldn't do anything to stop it. Her mouth was dry, but her palms felt like they were dripping with sweat. It just didn't make any sense to her.

She wanted to just continue home and eat, her stomach was burning with hunger, but her body refused to move. She was stuck there, frozen in place place as she watched the hatch of the ship open. Out stepped a large ground of batarians, all of which were carrying weapons. Some of the guns they held were bigger than her.

Suddenly, one of her neighbors looked back at her. An elderly woman that Jane often helped around the house. The woman knew about her hobby, everyone did, and when she made eye contact with her, she mouthed something to her.

Even though it was dark and even though she was a fair distance away from the rest of the colony, she could still read her lips. Run, she was telling her to run.

So, Jane did just that. Her once frozen body snapped into motion like ice being crushed and she turned on her heels and ran in the opposite direction, as far away from the colony as she could.

She was tired and hungry and she could barely see. Maybe it was the wind blowing into her eyes, maybe it was the tiredness that was quickly sneaking up on her because she wasn't one to exercise, or maybe it was the tears because Batarians with guns landed on her colony. She knew what Batarians with guns did. Her parents told her stories about them all the time. Stories about how they would enslave just about any living thing they could get their hands on. And this was it.

It took everything in her to hold in the sobs when she heard the rapid gunfire of their weapon, the sounds of glass breaking, the people screaming out in terror. Her face was scrunched up and soaked in tears because all she could do was listen and run.

Deep in the grass, her foot got caught on something hard and she felt like it shattered. She screamed out in pain as her body was thrown to the ground, her head hitting the ground with a bit of a bounce, and she lie there. The grass was tall enough to hide her from anyone that was passing by, but her foot. It ached so horribly. When she tried to put some of her weight on it, she felt back down and screamed out in pain. She couldn't move, she was stuck here in this tall patch of grass, hoping that the slavers wouldn't venture to far out from the colony to find her.

She lie there for what felt like hours. The grass was making her itchy and her stomach wouldn't stop rumbling, begging her for food. Her foot was throbbing, the pain was almost unbearable, almost comparable to the gut wrenching pain she was feeling in her head, but not once did she make a sound. She bit her lip and she help back her cries. Her cries of hunger, her cries of pain, and her cries of fear for her colony.

The sounds of destruction died down after a while and she lifted her head to get a peak at her colony. She could barely make anything out, but she could the ship. It was taking off, probably with her parents and everyone else inside, leaving her all alone.

She wanted to go back, to see if anyone was still there that could help her, but she could barely move. She was so tired, it was a struggle to keep her eyelids open. Jane wanted nothing more than to go back home and rest in her own bed. She wanted to tell her mother and father that she loved them, she wanted to eat that cold dinner, but she couldn't.

Maybe if she slept, she'd wake up and this all would have been nothing more than a bad dream, that's what she told herself at least. It was a horrible idea, but it was the only thing she could think to do. Her back ached from the hard ground, but she closed her eyes and allowed herself to rest.

It was another few hours before she heard the sound again. The sound of a ship landing and the passengers exiting. The colony was so quiet that she could hear it even though she was so far away.

Her eyes shot open and her body tensed. Her dreams were unpleasant, but now she was living the nightmare all over again. It was them, it was the batarians, she knew it. They'd come back for her, they knew she was there and they were going to enslave her. Only, they called out to her.

"Hello!" She heard the voice bellow across the colony, "Is anyone still here?"

The footsteps spread and she heard them, going through the houses and looking for people. Did they always do this? Come back to the planet afterwards for stragglers? She hoped not. She was praying to every god she could that it was someone else out there, one else. Her heart was set on the Alliance.

It took everything in her to muster the courage to look out into the colony. The ship was nowhere near she same as the ones the batarians had. It was smaller and much sleeker in design, she could tell even from this distance. The silhouettes that were out looking for humans were taller and bulkier than that of any batarians. They were turians. She'd never seen a turian in person before, but she recognized that shape from shows and vids she would watch.

With a hoarse voice she called out to them, "Help! I'm here! Please." Hearing the sound of her own voice made her tear up, she hadn't heard something in so long. She kept calling out to them, crying, begging them to come find her until two large turian males were right next to her.

They whispered something amongst each other, then looked down at her. She tensed a bit from them, having not seen a turian in person, they were a lot taller than what she initially expected. A little too tall to be exact.

One of the turians bent down so that they were at eye level, or as close to eye level as they could get. She was still sitting and even bending down his height was still looming over her.

He saw the fear in her eyes and his face seemed to soften. She couldn't read his expression, his face was so different than hers. What was he thinking? Did he want to harm her as well?

"What's your name?" He asked her. His voice was funny, it didn't sound like it did on vid screens, it sounded like two people were talking at once.

She looked up at the other turian who was still standing, his eyes placed firmly on her. He nodded for her to respond and she spoke softly.

"Jane. My name is Jane,"

"Well Jane, My name is Cercus and this is my good friend Quincus," the taller turian nodded when his name was spoken, "We both work for the military. Do you know what the military is?"

She nodded slowly, his tone was condescending, but she didn't care. They were here to help, she couldn't care less how they talked to her.

"Then you know we're here to help you, right?"

"Yes," she said with another slow nod.

"Can you stand?"

She shook her head, "My foot. I hurt it really bad, I can't walk."

Quincus drew his gun as Cercus bent down further to lift her up. His arm was around her waist and his other beneath her knees, carrying her against his chest, but she couldn't stop looking at the gun he'd drawn. Did they plan on putting her down like a horse when it's leg was broken? She hoped not and she knew they wouldn't, but somehow her body still tensed when she looked at his gun. It made her think of her parents.

She prayed to every god that they were okay, but she knew that in this situation, there was no okay. They were either shot to death mercilessly by batarian slavers or being taken away right now on that filthy ship to god knows where. She couldn't tell which was worse as they both seemed equally bad.

They passed by her home on the way towards their ship. The windows on the ground floor were all broken and even though she strained her eyes, she couldn't see anything through the darkness. Her parent's bodies could've been in there and she would never know.

The turians brought her up to the ship and all eyes were on her. She'd never seen so many turians before and she knew that relations between the two races was tense. She wondered what they planned to do with her or if any of the other humans had made it out, but she never asked. She felt like she couldn't ask. Any answer from them would've made her burst into tears right there.

They carried her down a flight of stairs, all this while Cercus and Quintus chatted casually amongst themselves. They talked about some kind of game and wagers and things like that. Her brain felt a bit fuzzy so she couldn't make much out, everything sounded so muffled, like she had pillows in her ears and she was so tired, she did everything in her power not to fall asleep in his arms.

She found herself being placed down on a bed in what appeared to be a med bay. It was a lot firmer than the beds that she had at home and she supposed that it was a turian thing, so she didn't complain. This hard bed was far more comfortable than the ground she'd slept on not to long ago. She'd take it over the ground any day.

She nuzzled herself into the thin blankets, preparing herself to go to sleep, but was quickly awakened by another voice, this one female.

Cercus and Quinus were already exiting the room when another turian approached her. Her plated were a light brown, almost pink, and her face was covered in white, elaborate clan markings.

"I'm sorry to say this, but you can't sleep just yet," she spoke in a soothing voice, the way her mother talked whenever she stubbed her toe or scraped her knee.

"Am I in trouble?" She asked. The words just spilled out and she couldn't stop them, she didn't know what was wrong with her.

"Of course not," the turian with the soft voice said, "I just want to take a look at your foot, I heard you hurt it pretty bad out there."

Jane nodded slowly, "I hit it on a rock when I was running."

The turian sucked air through her teeth, mimicking pain, "Ouch. That must've hurt. Let me get a look at it."

She leaned over Jane's foot and Jane took the time to glance at it too. She hadn't seen it since she'd hit it and the pain was still throbbing.

It looked swollen and a bit purple where it had been hit directly. It hurt to even move her toe a little bit and she couldn't put the slightest bit of pressure on it without feeling like it was going to kill her. It was concluded that she'd broken it pretty badly in the fall and the turian doctor did her best to put Jane in a makeshift cast until she could go see human doctor.

She didn't ask where she would see a human doctor, a side of her didn't care. She was finally out of the storm, all of the adrenaline had long since worn off, she was tired, sad. The surrealism had left with the adrenaline and it hit her like a bus, everything she'd known was gone. Her life, her family, her home. Everything. Gone.

She sobbed after realizing this. She sobbed until there was nothing left to cry out. Her eyes were as dry as the desert and all she could do was heave. And with soft cries, she fell asleep.


End file.
